Felony Possession Charge Could Mean Three Years

Angel leadoff hitter Tony Phillips was charged Tuesday in Fullerton with one felony count of cocaine possession.

Phillips, 38, was arrested early Sunday on suspicion he bought $30 worth of crack cocaine from an Anaheim police informant.

Prominent Orange County criminal defense attorney Allan Stokke, representing Phillips, said he could not discuss the details of the case against his client, but he said Phillips “fully expects to play ball” in the days ahead. Phillips was with the Angels in Chicago, but he did not play Tuesday and the Angels announced he would not return to the lineup until he met with doctors representing baseball and the players’ union.

Under state law, Phillips faces up to three years in prison if convicted. First-time drug offenders are not generally imprisoned, however, and typically wind up in a so-called “drug diversion program,” which requires defendants to plead guilty and go through drug rehabilitation.

The diversion program is popular because it allows offenders to return to court in 18 months to ask a judge to remove the violation from their records, said Carl Armbrust, supervisor of the Orange County district attorney’s narcotics unit.

Police said they entered an Anaheim motel room early Sunday and saw Phillips holding a loaded pipe in one hand and a lighter in the other.

An undercover investigator claims to have witnessed Phillips buying three $10 rocks of crack cocaine from an informant. The incident also was captured on surveillance cameras, police said.

The informant told investigators it wasn’t the first time she had sold drugs to Phillips, and claimed the ballplayer had made another purchase last week, police said.

Phillips’ others options include demanding a trial to fight the charges or pleading guilty and facing sentencing by an Orange County judge.

“The judge could give a sentence of up to three years [in prison],” Armbrust said. “But more realistically, it probably would be 60 to 90 days in [the Orange County jail].”

Stokke said he and Phillips haven’t decided which legal route to take.

“We want to see what the reports reflect before making any decision about where we go and what we do from here,” Stokke said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathi Harper declined to comment.

Phillips is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 18 in North Orange County Municipal Court.

Daryl Allen Smith, a 40-year-old felon with a long criminal record, also was arrested Sunday on suspicion of selling the drug to the informant, who in turn sold the drug to Phillips, police said.

Smith was in court Tuesday for his arraignment, which was continued until Aug. 22. Smith was sentenced to state prison four times, once for armed robbery and three times for drug-related offenses, Harper said.

He was paroled less than two weeks ago, according to a spokesman for the Department of Corrections.